Singapore detains man who ‘glorified’ IS

SINGAPORE: Singapore said on Friday it has detained a 44-year-old Australia-based Singaporean who allegedly glorified the Islamic State group and backed the establishment of a caliphate in the city-state.

Zulfikar Mohamad Shariff is being held under the Internal Security Act (ISA), which allows for detention without trial, for being a threat to national security, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said in a statement.

"Zulfikar has made use of social media to propagate and spread his radical messages," the MHA said in announcing his arrest this month.

His posts led to the radicalisation of two other Singaporeans, a businessman and a security guard, the ministry said.

Zulfikar, a Muslim activist, moved to Australia with his family in 2002. It was still unclear why he returned to Singapore.

A commentary Zulfikar wrote for Singapore’s Straits Times newspaper in May described him as a final year doctorate student at the La Trobe University in Australia.

Zulfikar had also been supportive of terror groups like al-Qaeda and its Southeast Asian affiliate Jemaah Islamiyah, according to MHA.

In Australia, he joined the hardline Hizbut Tahrir group while keeping in contact with radical Islamic preachers and making "numerous Facebook postings glorifying and promoting ISIS", MHA added, referring to another term for IS.

He set up a Facebook page called Al-Makhazin Singapore which he used as a platform to "agitate on Muslim issues" in the city-state with a "real agenda" to replace the government with an Islamic state.